Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-04-27
SECRETARY LAMAR'S SPEECH.
Continued from First Page.
He then called attention to

THE PLEDGES OF THE PARTY
supporting the present administration to put
stop to this enormous abuse, and he
asked, "What justification had been offer
ed for so gross violation OF their pledges"
To the speech OF Mr.. Benton in defence OF
the Administration he made the following
indignant reply: mo justification is even
attempted-the delinquency is acknowl-
edged, and the only effort which the Sena-
tor from Missouri has made to defend his
own conduct and that of the Administra-
ton in adopting the practice which he
then denounced is on the principle of retail
iation. He says that he has been fourteen
years a member Of the Senate, and that
during the first seven no friend of his had
received the favor Of the GOvernmett; and
contends that it became necessary to dis
miss those in office 10 make room for others
who had been for so long a time beyond
the circle of Executive favor" What,
Mr. Calhoun asked, ''is the principle,
when correctly understood, on which
this defence rests? 1t assumes
that retaliation is principle in its nature
so sacred that it justiies the breach Of
plighted faith and the subversiOu of prin-
ClpleS, the OucSENdlCG VI "ulCu ustl bSCh
declared to be essential to the liberty Of
the country. The ayowal of such prin-
ciple may be justified at this time by in
terested partiSanS; but more impartial
tribunal will regard it in a far different
light, and pronounce that sentence which
violated faith and broken pledges deserve.
x / consider il, said Mr.. Calhoun,
las an evidence of that deep degeneracy
which precedes the downfall of a republic,
when those elevated to power forget the
promises on which they were elevated; the
certain effect of which is to make an I'M
preston on the public mind that all is
Juggling and triekery in politics, and to
create an indifference to politicals strug-
giles highly favorable to the growth OF de-
spOtic power"
Continuing, Mr.. Lamar said:
am proud to say, fellow citizens, that
it has been my good fortune to be assO-
ciated with one, against whose administra-
ton the only criticism which has been
pronounced is his sacred regard for similar
promises, and the unconquerable intrepid
ity with which he stands by them.
Mr.. Lamar also paid high compliment
TO Senator Butler, of South Carolina, for
the ability, elOquence and tirmness with
which he had sustained these doctrines of
Calhoun, and also to South Carolina for
her recent resolutions on the subject of
Civil Service reform, and her support of
the Presidents action oil the subject.
SLAVERY.
Fellow citizens: The institution of sla-
cry That question has been settled. Sla-
very is dead-buried in a grave that never
gives up its dead. Why reopen it to-day?
Let il rest Yet, If | remain silent upon
the subject it will be taken as an admjS-
sion that there is one part of Mr.. Calhoun's
life of which it is prudent for his friends
to say nothing to the present generation.
Discrimination aud evasion were so foreign
TO his character that in his own case no
one would disapproye and even disdain
such silence more than he. / have this 10
say: That with reference to the constitution
al status of slavery in the States, Mr., Cal
houn never entertained or expressed a SEN
timent that was not entertained and ex-
pressed by Henry Clay, John Quincy
Adams, Daniel Webster, and
al the eminent statesmen Of his time.
That slavery was an institution of society
in the States, sanctioned and upheld by
the Constitution of the United States; that
it was an institution of property, recog-
nized, protected and enforced, even upon
the States where slavery did not exist, by
the fundamental law of the Union; that 1t
was an institution of political power
which, under the provisions OF the Constl-
tuition, increased the representation OF the
Southern States on the floor of Congress,
and in the electoral college was admitted
by every public man in the country who
had the slightest title to position as a
statesman.
The only difference between Mr.. Cal
houn on the one hand, Webster and Clay
and such statesmen on the other, was that
the measures hostile to slavery which they
sometimes countenanced, and at other
times advocated, he saw and predicted
were in conflict with these guarantees in
the Constitution, and that their direct
tendency and inevitable effect, and, in
many cases, avowed motive, was the de-
struetion of slavery in the States. And
whilst Mr.. Webster and Mr.. Clay dis
claimed any such motive and denied any
such probable effects, he declared to Mr..
Webster in debate that the sentiment
would grow and increase until, in spite Of
the Constitution, emancipation would be
consummated, and that he Mr.. Webster)
would himself be compelled to succumb to
it or be swept down by it.
Mr.. Lamar then went on to make quota
tons from Calhoun's speeches to show that
these predictions Of his came true. In the
course Of his remarks of this subject Mr.,
Lamar stated that If at this very day the
North or-the American Union were to pro-
pose to re-establish the institution the
South could not and would not accept it as
la boon.
Mr.. Lamar concluded his remarks as
follows:
Ladies of the South Carolina Association,
I have attempted to respond TO the call
with which yorr kindness has honored me-
L n. .I~.Eeu -